World Health Organization says it regrets US decision to withdraw

Jan 24 (Reuters) - The ⁠World ⁠Health ‍Organization (WHO) said it regrets that the U.S. has officially withdrawn from ‍the U.N. health agency and it ​hopes Washington returns to active participation in the ​future.

The U.S. left the organization on Thursday after a year of warnings that doing so would ​hurt public health in the U.S. and globally.

President Donald Trump's administration has ​criticized the way the WHO handled the COVID-19 pandemic. ‌Trump has said the WHO had failed to act independently from the "inappropriate ​political influence of WHO ⁠member states" and that the agency required "unfairly onerous payments" from ‌the U.S. that were disproportionate to the sums provided by other, larger countries, such ‌as China.

WHO said it stands by its response ‌to the "unprecedented global health crisis" brought about by the pandemic, adding that "the systems we developed and ‍managed before, during and after the emergency phase of the ⁠pandemic, and which run 24/7, have contributed to keeping all countries safe, including the U.S."

(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)

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